Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-11-17
PEN PICTURE OF "LABpY.-

PEN PICTURE OF 'LABDf.
I sent my card up in the afternoon, / It
Mr.. Labouchere was out, ST. NV pun. was
moored in front of his water wall until a
trim maid notified me that her master was q.
home and at leisure. Then l landed at the
boat house, climbed some old wooden stems,
At the top of which was greeted by u bi,;
black retriever and pretty little child. who
directed me up divers terraces to where Mr..
LAbouchere awaited me on the gallery
This veranda is very pretty; it is about I
by 10 feet, completely arched in by foliage,
while through three large logic OF slccves
You look over the river and the low country
on the other side. Three or four wicker
chairs and footstools lay around. In one OF
these sat q somewhat undersized man with
cropped heard just beginning to grizzle. He
was dressed in a rough suit of tweed. and the
disposition of plain gold chain showed that
be carried his watch in an outside pocket
be was putting . cigarette held in a plair
wooden holder, worth perhaps four cents.
and it may be interesting for some to kpor
that he wore a pair of elastic side boots very
much the worse for wear. He is a quiet
looking little man, with a come-what-will l.
am-cuntent air about him. freedom of
thought and language very uncommon in the
Old World, and witlal one could perceive
under the quiet ease of his manner the spirit
Of one who could hold fast and hit hard
Most men have their counterpart in the ami
NAL world, and Henry Labouchere strikingly
reminds me Of a chunky, well bred fox ter
rier that looks too lazy for anything as he
lies in the sun, but can show lots of character
whenever any of his natural foes chance in
his way. He has the same sideways set of
the headsthat Valet or Raby Mixer show
when interested
We got chatting about one thing and an
other until the stated objects of our interview
were touched upon Mr.. Labouchere was of
opinion that civil servant should be allowed
all fair political rights, provided the exercise
thereof did not interfere with the discharge
of his official duties, but where or how to
draw the line, he declared, WAS difficult
matter. ''In theory with us every civil ser
want is free TO act as he chooses" said he and
then, with exquisite simplicity, added: But
somehow or other if man works hard for
his party and doesn't win he doesn't get ON
very well, in fact not at all
JOURNALISM IN GENERAL
We got talking about Journalism in gen
eraL He said:
The one great difficulty of the daily
papers in London is the absence Of any SIS
TEN of distribution outside that of the Smith
So long as Sunday is strictly OBJ
served there will be no Sunday edition of the
great dailies, because they could not get rid
Of item when they were printed"
l touched on signed journalism when
ma gets the credit Of his work, and Mr.. La
bu ichere, as a newspaper proprietor, said he
6 Int want to make a man and then have
{ at man own his maker
He further said: THE run of journalists in
london have a pretty hard time; there are SO
many amateurs of good education and half
leisure who are willing to do special work
and articles for the mere pleasure of seeing
their copy in type, while on the other hand
there is an eminent superabundance of the
reporter, who by the way, is a very
interior animal to his American comrade"
He told me how Truth had been a success
and paid from the first number. Henry La
bouchere, Esq, was pretty well known among
the literary fraternity before it was pub
lished, and when it was announced that he,
who stood somewhere between Bob Ingersoll
Dave Hill and Tom Ochiltree, intended not
to tell lies any more. there was a unanimous
and tremendous howl of derision over the
length and breadth of the land. So they made
iokes about him and his truthful organ, all
of -ich duly advertised the paper, so that
folks bought it out of curiosity. and for a
long time decent Philistines studied its pages,
but only behind locked doors. Even today
there are plenty of Pharisees and Sadducees
who wouldn't touch the paper with pair of
tongs or say so until their dearest foe gets
SlaShinr